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Purchasing naming rights and following the legacy of the DeVos & Van Andel families: Acrisure and the primacy of free market capitalism in Grand Rapids

September 24, 2023
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On Friday, it was announced by all of the area commercial news sources that Acrisure had purchased the naming rights for the downtown outdoor amphitheater. Grand Rapids Mayor, Rosalynn Bliss gushed over the announcement, saying on Facebook, “Super excited about this announcement today and the progress we are making on the amphitheater!  We are so fortunate that Acrisure calls Grand Rapids home.”

The announcement was made at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, which makes complete sense, since the market, like the new amphitheater, used mostly public money for a facility that primarily catered to business class interests.

Acrisure purchased the naming rights for the new amphitheater for $30 million. To put this into perspective:

Following the legacy of Grand Rapids Oligarchs

In a separate MLive story related to the Acrisure naming rights purchase, the reported shared the following from the company’s CEO Greg Williams:

During Friday’s event, Williams paid tribute to the DeVos and Van Andel families, saying he’s learned from their history of community involvement and philanthropy.

“At the end of the day, we’re just following the lead that you and your families had established years ago,” he said, addressing members of the two families. “I’ve learned from what you’ve done, and I think this community obviously has been a huge benefactor. Hopefully, Acrisure can continue that role and play a role in some of those things going forward.”

Such a statement is rather instructive. If we are to be honest about what the DeVos and Van Andel families have done with their money over the years, what their legacies are, then we can draw some conclusions about what Acrisure might want to emulate in Grand Rapids.

The DeVos and Van Andel families have done the following:

  • Made their initial billions in the form of a pyramid scheme known as the Amway Corporation.
  • Have been the largest campaign contributors to the GOP in Michigan since the 1980s, which has translated to public policies that have been devastating to working class families, BIPOC families and other communities that are exploited under neoliberal capitalism.
  • They have used their wealth to imposed their ideological values on the rest of the city, values that have done concrete harm to the LGBTQ community, promoted the privatization of public services, attacked reproductive rights, undermined public education, have subjected all of us to their brand of Christianity, and increased the wealth gap in Grand Rapids. 
  • Using their wealth to influence City and County officials to design the the downtown in ways that will primarily benefit their interests. Plus, they have done this hiding behind so-called Public/Private partnerships, meaning that they get the public to cough up millions for their pet projects without public consent or public input. 

As for Greg Williams, who is CEO and Co-Founder of Acrisure, his current net worth is $56.5 million. Now, that is a meager amount, especially compared to the DeVos and Van Andel families, but Williams no doubt has greater aspirations.

In regards to what it is that Acrisure does, well it’s not entirely clear. Acrisure often refers to themselves as an insurance brokerage. However, the company also states that they offer retirement and cyber services, along with tech-driven financial services. In other words, Acrisure doesn’t produce anything, they only provide services that ultimately rely on market forces and speculative capital. 

Greg Williams did sign on to the letter in support of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce ordinance proposal to criminalize the unhoused last December. It would appear that the Acrisure CEO is indeed following the same political and business model as the DeVos and Van Andel families. 

from → Indy News